The doctors here are excellent.ihave been coming here for 15 years and have seen most of them. There was a staffing issue during COVID which has been corrected and the staff is lovely and helpful.
Our only experience at the TO office is with Dr. Lee, whom we only met today and won't be meeting again if possible. This review pertains to this physician only.
So enter the appointment itself: my almost 5 year old daughter has a ton of wax buildup in one ear for which we were pending an appointment to clean it out, but is now being treated for strep and there is concern for a perforated eardrum with some bloody discharge out of the ear in question. So we rather urgently moved up the wax- cleaning and assessment appointment to today instead of a couple of weeks. And moved it from Simi to TO as they were the location with space.
For context of my assessment of how it went: I am an experienced pediatric nurse at a large Children's Hospital, where the goal is to provide care to patients that come seeking it. Kids are sometimes very difficult and scared and can cry, kick, bargain, and scream. I have started IVs and given injections and changed painful dressings and who knows what else under all kinds of circumstances, because when a patient is under your care - it's because they require CARE. You problem solve, elicit help, give breaks, try something different - whatever you need to do to get the child what they need. Sometimes the care is not perfect, but giving up is only when all options have been exhausted or the cost/benefit is just not there. Families flex to be there because they came to you for help.
So I admit I have little tolerance for someone who tries to clean an ear for sub-5 minutes and gives up because the child whimpers and moves an inch away during attempts because they just don't want to do the procedure that has to be done. No screaming or big, unpredictable movements, not kicking or generally being a big ball of crazy. Just testing boundaries and trying to get out of it.
There was no discussion with me as the parent to try to see what I could do to assist. We didn't hold her head still, which would have probably elicited a better working environment for him. He barely let me grab a phone to see if the TV show ploy would work. Prior to this, there was minimal attempt at developing rapport with her as the patient - maybe none now that I'm thinking about it. It might not have helped, but knowing my very social daughter, I bet it would have.
Dr. Lee basically told the 4 year old that she won and that we could try "when she feels better", though I mentioned her behavior is at her baseline since she's improved on the antibiotics and that she just has built up some anxiety leading up to this particular appointment. And this girl is great at the dentist and every other doctor appointment. Folks always point out how calm and behaved she is, I rarely have to step in. And I know I am the parent this time and sure there is some bias, but I also know crazy pediatric patient where you call it quits and I know lazy provider - and this is 100% the latter. He was not listening to me, did not collaborate with me, and seems to think we have endless time off to take to come back and "try again next week".
Maybe it's his version of being kind to give up early, or maybe he just has zero experience or confidence working with patients this young. Either way, he would not be my choice again for any non- adult, and perhaps that's his preference as well. I'm assuming if you take direction well and don't flinch, he would meet your needs. He did seem quite gentle in his approach, I will give him that. And he was not unkind, just a bit dismissive. Maybe he hadn't had his coffee yet, maybe he was having an off day, there are a ton of possible maybes. People are people. But we needed more of a partnership in this case, and someone with a little more urgency and some stick-to-it-ive-ness. Someone who came to work today all-in.
We will be trying again since we now have to (another morning of school missed, another day of work missed), but in the Simi office where I have great confidence we will get this done with another physician.
